Spread the Net: the next generation

Members of the Circle K Society are kickstarting efforts to reclaim Dal's crown in the Spread the Net challenge. Back row, left to right: Niki Moideen, Tasha Moideen, Samar Ali, Michael Kennedy. Front row:  Keira MacNaughton, Avery Nixon, Elizabeth Morgan, Jack O'Connor, Kristine Burke, Andrew Kennedy. (Danny Abriel Photo)

Unless Dalhousie gets a move on, it looks like Brock University could swipe its crown in the Spread the Net challenge.

Last year, Dalhousie students raised more than $19,000 during the first year of the Canada-wide university challenge issued by Rick Mercer and Belinda Stronach. But this year, Dalhousie hasn’t even cracked the leader board.

All the money collected goes to buy bed nets to protect children in Africa from malaria-infected mosquito bites and the top fundraising school gets featured on The Mercer Report. You might remember the CBC wise guy wading in a quicksand simulator, riding down Citadel Hill in a concrete toboggan and making fun of the yearbook photos of famous Dal alumni including Alexa McDonough, Ian Hanomansing, Scott Brison, Danny Williams, and Peter MacKay in particular.

At this point, Brock is far ahead with about $21,000 raised so far. And Rick Mercer, it’s rumored, has already visited the university’s campus in St. Catharines, Ont.

But don’t count out Dal just yet, says Michael Kennedy, president of Circle K. Members of the Kiwanis-affiliated student society have been quietly fundraising over the past few weeks and are now turning up the heat.

Starting this week, students will fan out over campus conducting a toonie drive. And next week, on Wednesday, Feb. 18, they’re hosting a Jail and Bail fundraiser, basically holding local bigwigs, like Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly, DSU prez Courtney Larkin and members of the Progressive Conservative, Liberal and NDP caucuses behind bars until they raise bail for their release.

Mr. Kennedy, a second-year political science major, is convinced Dalhousie can do it and that another victory would be sweet.

“If we came back out of nowhere, it would really prove that Dal is the top humanitarian university in Canada,” he says. “And that’s something definitely to be proud of.”